Within the E.E.C. there exists a "European Tire Coverage Standard", which states as follows: "In the part formed by the radial planes at 30.degree. to the front and 50.degree. to the rear of the centre of the wheels, the guards must be sufficient to cover the total tire width taking into account the extremes of tire/wheel combination as specified by the manufacturer." The Standard excludes protective bands, ribs labelling and decorations on the tire.
In view of the Standard, every model vehicle destined for sale in the European community must meet the stated requirements. Hence, careful analysis is required for vehicle models in the preliminary clay model and/or early design stages. Heretofor, such dimensional checks were tediously manually scaled without the use of a checking fixture for assisting in the checking operation. Therefor, it is desirable to have a "tire coverage checking fixture" which provides automotive designers the means to readily and accurately make the required dimensional tire profile to body checks for all vehicle models.
A known gauge for measuring the fender well width of an automobile and the distances from the inner and outer sides of the well to the hub is disclosed in Loucas U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,307. From such measured dimensions, one can determine the widest usable tire, and calculate rim offset in a rim suitable for the selected wide tire.